Self-contained indoor pedestrian navigation by means of human motion analysis and magnetic field mapping

In the case of disasters such as fires, floods and earthquakes, effective and rapid rescue operations have to be carried out by first responders. Rescue operations inside of large-scale office buildings, shopping malls and public buildings are a major challenge in terms of positioning and guidance. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and terrestrial radio navigation systems such as global positioning system (GPS), wireless local area network (WLAN), ultra-wideband (UWB) and radio frequency identification (RFID) are either not fully operative inside of buildings or require a costly system infrastructure. Hence, this paper deals with autonomous or self-contained and semi-autonomous positioning for pedestrians based on low-cost inertial measurement units (IMU). A novel combination of improved movement recognition or human motion analysis and magnetic field mapping for absolute repositioning is proposed. This combination allows for a low error of position and the minimization of the IMU-typically drift, respectively. Therefore in this paper several methods for human motion analysis as well as for magnetic field mapping are assessed. Furthermore a number of meaningful results are shown.